iTech Solutions - for all of your IBM i System needs
iTech Solutions - for all of your IBM i System needs
On July 2, 2019, IBM announced that 15K RPM hard disk drives would no longer be available for new orders of its Storwize V5000 and V7000 storage systems, US announcement letter 119-048. Why did IBM make this announcement and what does it mean for IBM i customers?
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It’s that time of year again, hurricanes, tornadoes and severe thunderstorms are back again. Which means you’re at risk, especially if you haven’t done a recovery test of your backups recently. What are you waiting for, a natural disaster?
While it may be common sense that you need to keep a copy of your backups offsite for recoverability, we encounter many companies who are not religious about removing tapes from the drive. It’s imperative that you store your backups offsite in case of a disaster. It doesn’t matter if you use physical tapes or virtual tapes, you need to make sure there is a copy in a second location.
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Well, it has been a hell of a week, which seemed to start even on the way to the airport with getting in a few last minute calls.
So, how was my week at COMMON’s premier event, POWERUp 2019?
Probably the hardest place is where to start. It seems like we have been here for a lifetime, and at the same time the days went by so quickly. Certainly, the highlight for me was seeing so many friends, customers, meeting new people, and spending time with the other iTech employees: Laurie, Rick, Richie, Steve, and Yvonne. We don’t all work in Danbury, so every chance to see them is a treat for me. There was much to do together, from booth setup, meetings, working the booth, common sessions we attended, speaking, and then social events. This conference, other conferences, our customer meetings, as well as meetings in Danbury allow us to bridge the distance of not working in the same office each day.
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On April 23rd, 2019, IBM announced the newest release of the operating system IBM i 7.4. The announcement contained hundreds of updates to the OS and licensed programs.
One new licensed program, DB2 Mirror for i was also announced. It provides continuous availability for IBM i applications. “Continuous Availability” is a new term, which previously we had High Availability.
For the answers to these questions, and more, keep reading.
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Now that I have your attention, I want to discuss a serious topic; disaster recovery. In the event of an actual disaster, you want to be able to recover as quickly as possible to reduce the number of transactions that you lose, and the business you will lose as a result.
The real question is: Have you ever tested your disaster recovery process?
If the answer is, “no” or “not in a few years”, then your DR system might be nothing more than a boat anchor.
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If you remember in a statement about my predictions for 2019, I said that the next release of IBM i would contain some of the biggest enhancements ever put out by IBM for OS/400 or IBM i.
Well, it is now announced and being unwrapped today, and IBM i 7.4 (formally known as iNext) comes out with Db2 Mirror for IBM i, Synchronous Replication for Continuous Availability as the biggest enhancement. This is a very very cool technology, not just cool, even better than very cool, this is crazy cool technology. It’s not the only thing being delivered, but certainly the biggest part of 7.4. While the announcements are today, April 23, 2019, the software currently has a General Availability of Friday, June 21.
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POWER6 machines reached
In the past, IBM has not offered extended hardware support, but things have changed, and there is a new option available for those of you who won’t be able to move off old hardware before the end of support dates.
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“My system is working fine. Why do I need to upgrade the OS?”
I get asked this all the time.
Well, there are certainly a few reasons, and without getting too technical let’s explore a few of them.
Why would you risk putting your company at risk of running on an operating system that isn’t supported by IBM any longer? If you are on an older unsupported release, and if something breaks you won’t be able to get a fix for this unless one has already been developed. Yes, you can have extended support, but do you realize that the cost for one year of extended support is more than what it would cost to upgrade to a supported release.
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This article is originally published from MC Press Online. To see the original article, visit their post here.
Yes, high-praise press is good. So build on it.
One of the most interesting developments to come out of IBM Think this year was an eWeekarticle entitled “IBM i: The Most Amazing IBM Product You’ve Never Heard Of.” What? The platform had a flag-waving endorsement from outside our community? In eWeek? The Rob Enderle article started off like this:
“Occasionally, I run into a product that just has me sitting back wondering if I stepped into some kind of alternative universe. One of the first products that gave me this impression was the old AS400 from IBM. It was kind of like if you took an Abrams Tank and created a server with similar survivability. The stories of these things were legendary.
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Pete Massiello and Richie Palma have articles published within the February 2019 COMMON Connect Newsletter with a focus on cognitive computing.
iTech Solutions’ Pete Massiello, Yvonne Enselman, Richie Palma, and Steve Pitcher have been recognized for their sessions at Fall 2018 COMMON conference.
COMMON speaker awards are designed to recognize speaker excellence. After each session at the COMMON conference, attendees are given a feedback form to rate their sessions on content and delivery. You can read more about the details of the awards here.
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When people talk to us about backup and recovery, one of the most common questions is “how often should I be doing a full system save?”
Given we’re about to install PTFs or upgrade the OS, my response is always, “when was your last full system save?” What I do next
Check your last SAVSYS by reviewing the QSAVSYS data area with the following command, then review the Save Date/Time value of the object.
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Deciding to move to the cloud is often a decision made by the business; the idea is to reduce overhead and costs. With so many companies offering cloud-based services, it can be difficult to determine which one is the best fit. The truth is that not all cloud providers are created equal, and it’s important to consider several things when selecting your cloud provider.
The key is that you have to protect your business. Which means you have to find a partner who can deliver the solution you need, and ensure that your data is protected and available.
Below are five areas you should consider when selecting a cloud provider.
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With 2019 upon us, it’s natural for one to wonder what’s in store for IBM i in the upcoming year. According to iTech President, Pete Massiello, the outlook for IBM i is looking good for this year.
“2019 is going to be one of the best years ever for the IBM i community,” Massiello writes.
“IBM has publicly stated (see chart below), that the next version of IBM i, currently called iNext, is coming out sometime this year. I have seen what is in this release, and in my opinion this release will have the most amazing features and functions that have ever been part of an OS release. I know that is a lot to say, but I had numerous demonstrations, and I was very impressed.”
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